A retired teacher who had been struggling for breath for months was amazed when doctors told him there was a PEA plant growing in his lung.

Ron Sveden, from Brewster, Massachusetts, was already fighting emphysema when his health took a turn for the worse.

'I was not doing too well, a lot of coughing, I was very listless,' the 75-year-old said.

Ron Sveden, from Brewster, Massachusetts, was amazed when he was told he had a pea sprouting in his lung. He had assumed it would be cancer

His wife Nancy was so alarmed by his deterioration that she called for an ambulance and he was rushed to hospital on May 31.

Doctors took X-rays and found his left lung had collapsed and the pensioner feared he had developed a tumour after a grainy spot was found. But his doctors were baffled as they could not find any evidence of cancer.

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They were amazed when samples revealed Mr Sveden had the green vegetable sprouting inside his lung.

Ron said: 'I was told I had a pea seed in my lung that had split and had sprouted. It is probably about a half-an-inch which is a pretty big thing.'

This X-ray reveals where a tiny green vegetable took root in Mr Sveden's lung. The pea shoot can be seen circled in red with the leaf bending over to the right

A young pea plant in more natural surroundings

Doctors speculated that Ron had eaten a pea that 'went down the wrong way' during a meal and ended up in his lung, and then sprouted leaves.

Dr Jeff Spillane who treated Ron, told the Cape Cod Times: 'It was small enough to get down there but big enough not to get out.'

Ron said: 'Whether this would have gone full-term and I'd be working for the Jolly Green Giant, I don't know. But, I think the thing that finally dawned on me is that it wasn't the cancer.'

Through it all, Mr Sveden hasn't lost his sense of humour. He said: 'One of the first meals I had in the hospital after the surgery had peas for the vegetable.

'I laughed to myself and ate them.'

His relieved wife added: 'God has such a sense of humour. I mean it could have been just nothing, but it had to be a pea, and it had to be sprouting.'

Mr Sveden's wife Nancy said the pea showed God had a great sense of humour

Mr Sveden is now recovering at home where friends and neighbours have sent get well presents of pea seeds and canned peas.

His case follows that of Artyom Sidorkin, a Russian who was found to have a five centimetre fir tree growing in his lungs in 2009. Like with Mr Sveden the medics had assumed the 28-year-old had cancer.